Vibratory conveyors have been known and used for many years. In the usual type of vibratory conveyor, the material-carrying trough is vibrated at an angle to the horizontal normally of the order of 45 degrees. The material conveyed is, in effect, bounced along the trough from one end to the other to effect the conveying action. Thus, for most of the travel the material is airborne, striking the material-carrying surface only long enough to be relaunched into the air in the direction of the discharge end of the conveyor. The vibratory action has been used not only for conveying articles from one end of the trough to the other, other functions can be achieved, such as for example, the removal of sand from castings because of the jarring or impact nature of the vibratory conveying action. Thus, the trough may be provided with a foraminous lower surface through which sand may pass as it is jarred loose from the castings. An example of such an apparatus is to be found in the Musschoot patent No. 3,335,861.
Because of the bouncing nature of the conveying actions, it has heretofore been difficult, if not impossible, for a worker standing alongside the trough to actually perform any work on the articles being conveyed. Thus, in a foundry operation, it is customary for a worker to knock the sprue from a casting with a hammer, but in order to do so the casting must be at rest or at least maintained in a position where such a blow can be delivered with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Heretofore, this could not be accomplished while the casting was passing along a vibratory conveyor.